Coco Kelley Kitchen Remodel :: Choosing the Countertops!

Coco Kelley Kitchen Remodel :: Choosing the Countertops!

When designing a room, or a house, from the ground up, the biggest challenge is making decisions. Especially when every decision you make impacts the other decisions you make, so that it’s nearly impossible to make just one decision and move on to the next thing. What it really goes like is something like this:
“So, what kind of countertop material do we want for the kitchen"”
Well… that depends. What’s the sink" What’s the tile" Should we make the counters more of a statement" Well that depends on if the backsplash is going to be bold or not. What about finish – should we have it honed or polished" Should we do a different top for the island than the rest of the counters"
But there was one question above all of them that was the most important to us: What’s going to be beautiful and low maintenance"

The initial materials that I was drawn to were concrete, wood, quartz, or a natural stone (like marble or soapstone).
Concrete done well, like above, can be soft and lovely. But it has to be paired with the right atmosphere and accents in order to not instantly feel cold, modern or overly architectural. For our space, I was worried about there being SO much of it. Our island is pretty large! On top of that, we were using all new materials (no amazing vintage wood island here) so that was a concern as well.
We considered a combination situation where the countertops would be concrete and the backsplash and island would be marble, but that just added more cost, and I wasn’t sure I’d love it forever. On top of it, the style didn’t feel 100% appropriate to our home, which was built in the 1920’s. While even now I still love the idea of it, the reality was that it wasn’t the right fit.Wood or butcher block was also a strong contender for the countertops. I was a little worried about maintenance, but I don’t mind the way wood looks when it gets worn and broken in. We really wanted to bring more wood elements into the kitchen to make it cozy, so this seemed like a great option.
Mostly, we considered wood on just the island, but by this time had already decided that the island would be a dark grey while the rest of the cabinets were a creamy white. This meant that the island itself would be dark grey with wood while the rest of the cabinetry would be white with quartz or marble. That felt really disjointed to me, and I was worried about our massive island feeling really heavy. So we nixed the wood.

So, then it came down to the usual suspects: marble, quartz, soapstone… and I immediately knew that quartz would be the winner. We had previously used it in our kitchen at the office and after seeing first hand the way it stood up to dinner parties, I was confident it would hold up to any beating it took in our own home. Because it’s a manmade product, it’s way more tough than marble or soapstone would be. And it’s s...

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